Gnocchi with Love

By: Stacy Fraser | November/December 2009

Sharing the delicious gift of homemade gnocchi with family and friends.

I’m not Italian, but I grew up making gnocchi. My Aunt Kay married an Italian, James Kiomento, “Uncle Jimmy K,” who learned
how to make gnocchi from his mother, who learned how to make it from her mother.

ADVERTISEMENT

During family visits, Uncle Jimmy K normally didn’t have much to say to the kids. But at the holidays, he invited us into the
kitchen for gnocchi-making lessons. He explained that gnocchi was made from just four ingredients—potatoes, flour, egg yolk
and salt. He’d warn us, “You need to press the potatoes through the ricer while they’re still hot.” “Don’t add too much flour
or the gnocchi will be tough!” “Use a gentle touch when rolling the dough, you want tender gnocchi, don’t you?” Not only was
the kitchen counter covered in flour, so were we. After we each gently rolled a portion of dough into a long snake and cut it
into tiny little “pillows,” Uncle Jimmy K gingerly dropped them into the boiling water. As soon as they floated to the
surface, he scooped them out of the water, gently tossed them with a simple tomato sauce and dinner was ready.